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No Charges in Fatal Crash on Langley Bypass

There will be no criminal charges for the driver who struck and killed a pedestrian on the Langley-Surrey border almost a year ago.

Andrew Leduc, 37, was hit early in the morning of August 7 in the 19500 block of the Langley Bypass, just on the Surrey side of the municipal boundary.

The semi-truck left the scene of the fatal collision.

Police quickly identified the driver of the semi-truck as a civilian who was working for the RCMP at the time of the crash.

The driver called police himself about three hours after the collision, said Sgt. Dale Carr, spokesperson for the Surrey RCMP.

Police say that after driving back to Mission, he found evidence of a collision while checking over his vehicle.

The agency responsible for the investigation has shifted several times.

Initially, the Surrey RCMP announced that because the suspect was employed by the police, an outside agency would look into the collision.

The Independent Investigation Office (IIO) was brought in, but they turned down the investigation as the driver was not a police officer.

The Surrey RCMP Major Crime Unit then took over the investigation, said Carr, a spokesperson for the detachment.

Because he has worked with and trained a significant number of Surrey RCMP officers, steps were taken to find only officers who had never met the suspect, said Carr.

“That was one of the absolute things we did to ensure impartiality,” Carr said.

“Normally, a file such as this would be investigated by our Traffic unit,” said Carr. Too many officers there had interacted with the man, so Major Crimes took on the file.

The officers involved were checked for any past possible association with the driver, said Carr.

Bringing in another traffic section from another RCMP detachment or a city police force would also have been difficult, Carr said. The driver has worked around the region with many police forces.

After Major Crimes found no reason to lay charges, in March, the Mounties turned the file over to the BC Office of the Police Complaints Commission (OPCC) for a review of the investigation.

They confirmed the tentative findings, said Carr.

“A final report by the OPCC is pending and will be sent in the coming weeks,” said Carr.

In the case of a hit and run, a typical charge could be leaving the scene of an accident. Past hit and runs have also seen charges based on dangerous driving.

In this case, Carr said there was no proof that the driver knew he hit anyone before he arrived in Mission, and no evidence of reckless driving or speeding at the time of Leduc’s death.

Leduc’s family in Penticton has been advised of the decision, through the local Victim Services unit, said Carr.

According to CBC reports, the family is not happy with the decision not to lay charges.

© Langley Advance

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